At the end of spring break, the Botanic Garden wrapped up its annual Bulb Show, where thousands of flowers contrasted dreary March skies.  The Bulb Show  is an annual two-week event that began over 100 years ago. It attracts visitors with precisely coordinated blooms and art installations, but to Botanic Garden Director John Berryhill, the show is more than just a colorful display. “I hope it's [an] invitation to see what we are the other 50 weeks of the year,” Berryhill said

Picture a ten-foot by eight-foot hole, five feet deep, filled with rocks and logs in such a way that there are gaps between them. Three tunnels, made of clay roofing tiles, connect the hole's depths to the surrounding hillside. Flat rocks surrounding the hole warm in the winter sun. Courtesy of Sarah Gygax ’28. Watercolor cross-section of the hibernaculum by Sarah Gygax ’28. This likely does not sound like the best place for rest, unless you are an eastern ratsnake.  Smith Co

When he’s not drinking raw milk, mauling bears, or rejecting the measles vaccine, RFK Jr. is busy telling women how to manage their bodies. Trump’s inaugural National Conference on Women’s Health  in Washington was held from March 11-13th, aimed at advancing research, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of health conditions affecting women. The event was spearheaded by representatives from the MAHA movement, covering topics including menopause, hormone therapy, fertility, an

“Turn on the propane first with this knob, then turn this knob for the oxygen.” A flame, half a foot long, bursts from the nozzle. That was Sally Prasch, a scientific glassblower of the UMass Glassblowing Laboratory. In February, the Student Event Committee organized three workshops at the lab for Smithies to learn the unique craft of glassblowing, an intersection of art and science that cannot be found on campus.  Sally Prasch demonstrates how to melt the end of a glass rod.

The night before a snowstorm, as students across campus hunker down with hot chocolate and cross their fingers for a snow day, Smith Facilities Management gets to work. They roll out trucks pouring a sticky, sometimes smelly, brown substance onto Smith’s roads and walkways. This mysterious concoction is called Liquid Magic , and its contents have much to reveal about the science behind ice melts. The term ice melt is a bit of a misnomer; most ice melts actually work by preven

In California’s Death Valley National Park, there is a water-filled cavern known as the Devil’s Hole. These waters maintain temperatures of 91°F with oxygen levels as low as 2–3 ppm, and they are home to the critically endangered Devil’s Hole pupfish , hereafter referred to as D.H. pupfish. Devil’s Hole pupfish, Feuerbacher. (2011). Creative Commons License . The D.H. pupfish has the most limited range of any known vertebrate, found only in the upper 100 feet of a small caver

Photo by Jonathan Cooper on Unsplash In the winter of 2024, three extraordinary wolves were born on a 2000-acre wildlife preserve in an undisclosed location. Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi  are the poster children for Colossal Biosciences, advertised as the first direwolves  to walk the earth since the species’ extinction tens of thousands of years ago. Their snowy coats, formidable size, and distinctive vocalizations are absent in the gray wolves who provided their base genome

Flasks on top of a graduation cap. Creative Commons License . ‘Tis the season of senior theses. You can’t walk past a TV or bulletin board in Ford without seeing an ad for lunchtime thesis talks. Maybe you’re a first-year student who’s just forayed into the STEM world, or maybe you’re a lab rat junior with senior year looming. Either way, if you’re interested in research, the idea of doing a senior thesis can feel at once completely exciting and completely intimidating. It’s

“All of astronomy started with naked eye observations at nighttime of the planets and the stars and the sun and the moon moving and people scratching their heads… Astronomers, since time immemorial, have had this incredible gift of nature, the dark night sky, and access to seeing with our own eyes how the heavens work and how the universe works.” For Smith Astronomy Professor James Lowenthal, a love of observing the night sky sparked an acute awareness of light pollution at a

Image from Freepik Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), a type of pancreatic cancer, has a five-year survival rate of less than ten percent . Often diagnosed in later stages, it is one of the most lethal diseases. Pancreatic cancer is on the path to becoming the second-leading cause of cancer death by 2030 , with diagnoses rising each year. Current treatments include chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation, but do not improve clinical outcomes. A recent study published in th

To many people, it may seem unconventional to have an organic molecule or a neuron tattooed on their body. However, after completing a difficult STEM course, memorializing these concepts as a tattoo can serve as a reminder of not just the difficult material, but also the connection made between classmates and the pride felt after completing the course. These courses are not only major requirements, but also a stepping stone in your academic journey to discover what you love. 

As Smith students headed home in late December, an ethereal visitor took up residence in Hampshire County: the Snowy Owl. The arrival of these rare owls brought enthusiastic crowds to Northampton and Hadley, along with questions about how to best appreciate birds without harming them. Snowy Owls  are an irruptive species in Hampshire County, meaning they are irregular visitors based on their unpredictable migratory patterns. They breed in remote areas in the Arctic and occasi

“Do you want someone else to live your life for you?” That question, posed by Senior Laboratory Instructor Joe Yeager of the Chemistry Department, reflects the heart of the discussions surrounding AI use in the classroom. When does AI go from being a tool to replacing the learning and living that should be done by students? As faculty attempt to draw this line in the sand through personal and departmental policies, students are left to navigate a shifting sea of expectations

In the mammalian world, bowhead whales are unrivaled in lifespan and second only to blue whales in size, yet these whales seemingly evade cancer. A recent study  led by researchers at the University of Rochester identified that this cancer resistance comes from a protein called CIRBP that helps repair DNA damage.  Cancer can develop when genetic errors accumulate in cells over time, but bowhead whales, which have a 200+ year lifespan and many  cells, have a paradoxical resist

“Okay, woman in STEM!” a friend of a friend exclaims when I tell them I’m majoring in biology. “I kinda wish I’d done that instead of this useless English degree. I could be making six figures straight out of undergrad.”  “Well, I’m going to med school, so I won’t be rich for at least another decade,” I joke, but something within me bristles at the implication that money is my primary reason for becoming a doctor, or even for majoring in a STEM field. Most of my fellow pre-he

Preeclampsia, a condition that causes high blood pressure and organ damage during pregnancy, is responsible for 14% of maternal deaths each year. Despite the high prevalence of preeclampsia, its causes continue to elude scientists. Even more troublingly, there are currently no tests that can consistently predict the onset of preeclampsia early on in pregnancy, and early diagnosis is critical for effectively treating the condition. A team of biologists and doctors may have hit

Gingko trees are the last remaining species of a primitive plant family, their existence dating back to 150-200 million years ago, when dinosaurs were still alive. Their long-lasting presence is reflective of their exceptional resilience – Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences notes their ability to survive in harsh environments, as well as their resistance to insects and disease. Gingko trees are native to East Asia, but their durability make

Hanging in the main common room of the Barresi Lab is a framed art piece—one that earned junior biology major Sophia Liu first place in an interlab art competition. The photo depicts two organic, almost celestial-like forms suspended in a field of black, floating as if in deep space. Green particles of stardust trace the contours of their bodies, while clouds of violet and ember-orange seem to glow from within. At first glance, the mesmerizing alien image could be mistaken fo

For many STEM majors, research is an opportunity to explore interests, build skills, make connections, and develop a resume. But what happens when research is paired with unique opportunities to travel the world? What can a student gain from pairing professional growth with exposure to different cultures in their research experiences? For Smith student Abigail Coleman ‘26, summer research abroad was an invaluable experience. Abigail spent 12 weeks this past summer at the Roya

Just five miles up Elm Street, the remains of a golf course can be spotted through the trees. Beaver Brook Golf Course closed its doors for the last time in July and is currently in the process of “rewilding” as it becomes a community park. The Trustees, a Massachusetts land conservation nonprofit, purchased the property in collaboration with Hilltown Land Trust (HLT), intending to transform the once exclusive space into something that would benefit Williamsburg and the surro

Survey results found that 22% of chemists made changes that they knew to be incorrect to their manuscript during the review process. The study, “On and off-the-record correction practices: A survey-based study of how chemistry researchers react to errors,” was published this October in the journal Accountability and Research. This alarming finding came from a survey with 1,135 respondents who had at least two recent publications in the American Chemical Society or the Royal S

It’s no secret that AI is everywhere in today’s society. You turn on the TV and see the new Coca-Cola ad created with 70,000 AI prompts, then maybe you open Google, and no matter how many times you download an ad blocker, a Gemini AI summary pops up. Even in class, it’s inevitable to see a stray ChatGPT tab here and there. These uses are tangible; we see them day to day, to the point where it’s normalized, but where is AI truly changing the status quo? Are these new uses help

Q: I’m interested in doing research at Smith, but I don’t know where to start! How do I join a lab on campus?

This shift in nature signifies the transition from summer to fall, and in regions like New England, it brings people from all over the world to see its beauty.